Is it really this expensive....

I know....I've heard stories and know that having a baby is really expesnive! Can probably buy an additional apartment for the price of taking care of your child till it is 16 years of age. I'm 4 months pregnant now and still can't believe how fast my stomach is growing and what I have to prepare for my baby's birth. Recently, I've also looked into some cord blood storage service for my baby. I have to prepare for this amount. Also need to pay for deposit for the hospital as well.
 
For me cord blood storage was an unnecessary expense. Unless you have a family history of genetic or congenital disease, I would rather donate baby's cord blood to someone in need. Unfortunately this was not an option for us at Matilda.
 
Asked a few trusted GPs and all said not to waste the cost of cord blood storage.

When researching on the subject independently, I found the initial outlay cost couldn't justify benefits, if needed.

Would recommend doing your research and coming to your own decisions.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using GeoClicks Mobile
 
I read the same thing - unless you have a family history of these kinds of conditions it's not worth considering. In addition because it's so new it hasn't yet been proven to be more effective than getting a transplant from another donor; some experts believe giving a sick child more of their own cells will just cause the condition to reappear in the future and finally many of the companies who are offering this are using very dodgy statistics to persuade anxious parents-to-be that this is a good investment. So I'm steering well clear - though if my hospital wants to take mine to use for a baby that needs it, I'm happy to donate.
 
i think we have a few new users on here and on geoexpat... it seems that almost every "new mum-to-be" who has posted on here recently is interested in cord blood storage.... i don't think it's a coincidence. i wouldn't be surprised if it is one person trying to drum up business.
 
I read the same thing - unless you have a family history of these kinds of conditions it's not worth considering. In addition because it's so new it hasn't yet been proven to be more effective than getting a transplant from another donor; some experts believe giving a sick child more of their own cells will just cause the condition to reappear in the future and finally many of the companies who are offering this are using very dodgy statistics to persuade anxious parents-to-be that this is a good investment. So I'm steering well clear - though if my hospital wants to take mine to use for a baby that needs it, I'm happy to donate.

Aquarian, you summarised what I wanted to say too. Some of it is touched on in this article:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/private-cord-blood-banking-worth-price/story?id=10568271

I think parents should really be doing their research before investing in this service, beyond listening to sales reps of cord blood companies and even their own doctors as some of the latter might be receiving a commission from the service providers.

If people still feel they have the funds to spend on something that has a small chance of being useful, that's fine but if parents spend on these kind of services and then say how expensive raising a child in Hong Kong is, it's a bit silly.
 
But it sounds the same as an insurance

Yes, but what you buy insurance for is very subjective as is what is necessary to buy insurance for. Particularly given the proven benefits of this form of banking (very limited) can it be seen as one of those essentials, which if we cannot afford we have cause to moan?
 
yeah, it can be expensive! the other day I came across south china morning post and saw that people are even willing to spend 100K on storing cord blood tissues
 
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